Grade 5 Reading: goals and how we get there
A grade 5 reading student at Learn To Be does three things:
- Reads more deeply.
- Works through the 5th Grade Reading course, and reads real books about real things.
- Reads a little every day (at home!).
The goals
By the end of grade 5, a student:
- Reads 150 words per minute out loud.
- Reads real novels and true books every week.
- Still knows the letters, common words, prefixes, and roots from earlier grades instantly.
- Knows the words school uses, like analyze, evidence, and claim. This is new this year.
At this speed, reading is no longer the slow part. The student can think about what the book says.
We are building flashcard decks for letters, common words, and vocabulary. Until then, practice them by reading out loud.
Reading speed
Reading speed is how many words a student reads correctly in 1 minute, out loud.
To check it: pick a book at your student's level. Time them reading out loud for 1 minute. Count the words they read correctly. Check at the start of the year, and again every few weeks.
| Grade | Words per minute, out loud, by the end of the year |
|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 67 |
| Grade 1 | 104 |
| Grade 2 | 114 |
| Grade 3 | 133 |
| Grade 4 | 146 |
| Grade 5 | 150 |
| Grade 6 | 150 or better |
| Grades 7 and 8 | 150 or better, for long stretches |
The grade 5 target is 150. If your student is far below the target for their grade, find the grade they are ready for in this table and use that page.
The courses
5th Grade Reading has 38 lessons. Each lesson is a short science or history passage to read and talk about together. This is the "read to learn" part.
- Do one or two lessons each session. Read the passage together, then talk about it.
- If the passages are too hard, use 4th Grade Reading first.
If your student guesses at words or reads slowly, start with the Early Reading Program first, no matter the grade. It has 1,745 lessons and teaches phonics: how to sound out words. There is no placement test. To find where to start, skim forward through the lessons until your student stumbles. Start there. Its Tutor Toolkit, a card on the course page, has guidance for tutors.
The reading list
True topics
Read books and articles about these topics, and talk about them together. This is also your student's science and history.
- The Maya, Aztec, and Inca
- The Age of Exploration
- The Renaissance
- Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Don Quixote
- Native Americans: Cultures and Histories
- Oceans
- Poetry
- Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes
Stories to read
The tutor and the student take turns reading these out loud. As the year goes on, the student reads more of it.
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
A typical session
- Warm-up read-aloud, about 10 minutes. The student re-reads something familiar out loud. This builds speed and confidence.
- Course lessons. This is the main part of the session. Do one or two 5th Grade Reading lessons together. If your student is on the Early Reading Program, do those lessons instead. Do not move on until the student masters the lesson.
- Real reading together. Read a book from the reading list. Read it together and talk about it.
Between sessions (at home)
Daily practice happens at home, not in your session. A little every day works better than a lot once a week.
Tell the parent:
"Every day, have your child sign in at learntobe.org and do their reading lessons. Then have them read out loud to you for 10 minutes from a book they can read easily. This is the one thing that helps most."
Show the parent and the student how to sign in and find the course during your first session.
Other resources
- IXL. If your student has an IXL account through our pilot, its diagnostic shows the grade level your student works at in English language arts. Use it as an extra check, not instead of the course. See How should tutors use IXL?